Vin Scully defends Dodgers' behavior

ST. LOUIS — Vin Scully is 85. He has called games for the Dodgers since Jackie Robinson played for them. He does not just talk about the old school. He was enrolled in it.

As the story line raged about whether the Dodgers are too full of money, flair and themselves — in contrast with the old-school St. Louis Cardinals — Scully said he did not believe the Dodgers players had done anything offensive.

"They're just having fun," Scully said Friday before Game 6 of the National League Championship Series. "I would hate to see a game where there wasn't any emotion. I like to see it. I think the fans enjoy it. I would love to see more."

Scully said he was astonished to look toward the St. Louis dugout in Game 5, with Dodgers rookie Yasiel Puig about to take his first at-bat. Scully said he saw the entire Cardinals team lined up along the rail, mimicking and exaggerating the gestures Puig had made in the on-deck circle.

"It was like a chorus line," said Scully, a Dodgers broadcaster since 1950. "I had never seen that."

The Cardinals have complained about the gestures of Puig and Adrian Gonzalez.

"You hit a game-winning home run and the other team says you're trying to show them up?" Scully said. "God almighty."

Scully thought back to Joe DiMaggio, one of the most talented players he has ever seen. The way Scully told the story, DiMaggio played with no emotion.

"As much as I loved Joe DiMaggio," Scully said, "I would hate to see 18 Joe DiMaggios on the field."

With the Dodgers eliminated, there will be no Game 7 for Hyun-Jin Ryu to pitch. But he didn't know that when he met with reporters Friday afternoon and talked about his experience pitching in pressure situations.

Ryu said he pitched in two international tournaments in which the South Korean government offered military exemptions to players if they performed well. Able-bodied South Korean males must spend at least 21 months in the military, but athletes who win medals at the Olympics or gold medals at the Asian Games are exempt.

Ryu gained his military exemption at the 2008 Olympics, in which South Korea won a gold medal in baseball.

"There is a lot of pressure, obviously, in a game like tomorrow and those past games that I pitched," Ryu said through an interpreter. "I wouldn't really call it a lot of pressure. More like an anxiety or a bit of nervousness, which I think is normal and necessary for you to step up."

Anthem standoff

Cardinals pitcher Joe Kelly explained after the game his standoff with Dodgers reserve Scott Van Slyke that got Game 6 off to a weird and slightly belated start.

Kelly, it seems, made a habit of being the last player standing at attention after the national anthem.

"Apparently, they caught onto it, and he didn't leave. So we stood there for a while," Kelly said. "It was fun."

Kelly actually moved around some, while Van Slyke stood frozen. Umpire Greg Gibson shooed both into their dugouts with Michael Wacha ready to throw the game's first pitch, and Kelly moved first, with Van Slyke claiming victory.